Mogadishu Line

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The Mogadishu Line is a figurative term used to describe the reluctance of major powers, particularly the United States, to exercise military and political power for humanitarian reasons with an intervention into another state.

[edit] Background

It specifically refers to external intervention in the Somali Civil War. In 1992, following calls for action by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the UN Security Council approved a humanitarian intervention into Somalia, which initially involved a small contingent of UN-approved troops followed in December by a US-dominated military force.

The conflict involved two major political factions (supportive of General Muhammad Farah Aydid and Siad Barre respectively) attempting to seize control of the state and in addition the humanitarian brief, the UN endorsed the use of the intervention as a means of disarming rival clans and brokering negotiations between parties.

[edit] Coining of the term

However, these operations were executed disastrously - an attempt to launch an attack on Aydid's base in Mogadishu resulted in 18 US troops being among the fatalities as well as clan leaders. The heads of the soldiers were paraded through the streets. This led to the withdrawal of US troops. Consequently, the idea of the "Mogadishu Line" became a key post-Cold War conflict, forming much of the basis for a failure to intervene in later conflicts such as the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.